Basic Tips on Tipping: How Much and To Whom?

Every time I get my hair cut, I’m faced with a dilemma — should I tip the barber or not? I usually get my hair cut in a small-town shop. I tip $2 on a $12 haircut. If I get to hear stories about Vietnam or histrionic political rants, I tip $3, even if I don’t agree with the barber’s viewpoints. (I tip because I’ve been entertained.) Sometimes, if I don’t have enough cash, I don’t leave a anything at all. Are these tips appropriate?

What about when I pick up Chinese takeout? Should I have tipped the guys who delivered our new gas range last fall? What about a hotel bellhop? A parking valet? Out of curiosity, I did some research on tipping practices in the United States. There’s actually significant disagreement about how much to tip for even common services.

For example, you know you should tip your waitress. But how much should you leave? Some people claim that 10% is adequate. Others claim that 20% is standard. But I suspect that most of us learned to tip 15%, and to give more for exceptional service. (The wikipedia entry on tipping currently contains the bizarre claim that “18% is generally accepted as a standard tip for good service”.) Which amount is correct?

After browsing dozens of pages, I drafted the following guide. The amounts listed are based on averages or on consensus, when possible.

What about tipping at holidays? Tipping service people with whom you have regular contact can build goodwill. I found these recommendations:

Holiday Tips

Babysitter: one week’s pay

Doorman: bottle of wine or box of chocolates

Garbage collector: $15 to $25

Gardener: one week’s pay

Housekeeper: one week’s pay

Janitor: $15 to $25

Mail carrier: $15 to $20 (up to $20 non-cash)

Nanny: one week’s pay

Newspaper delivery person: $15 to $25

Parking attendant: $15 to $25

Personal trainer: $20 to $50 (tip discreetly)

Some points regarding tipping etiquette:

If you use a coupon or gift certificate, calculate your tip based on the total before discount.

Tip above the norm if:

Service is exceptional,

You’ve been a burden, or

You are a regular client.

Don’t tip if it’s not deserved. Poor service should not be rewarded.

In some circumstances, if you offer an initial tip — especially a large initial tip — you’ll get better service.

If you take up a restaurant table for a long time, tip extra.

Tip discreetly.

When in doubt, tip.

What about public officials? When is a tip a tip, and when is a tip a bribe? My wife and I tipped the judge who married us, but even then we had trouble deciding how much to give him. (We gave him $50.)

I suspect that tipping practices vary widely from region-to-region and, especially based upon the size of the city. As always, do what works for you.

Just a note about leaving a 0% tip at a restaurant. If the service was so terrible that you feel no tip is deserved, you should be asking to speak to the manager, in addition to leaving no tip.

Furthermore, I’ve often heard that if you leave no tip, the waiter will either assume that you are cheap or that you forgot, not that they provided you with poor service. Leaving a low tip is, ironically, more “effective” in expressing your dissatisfaction than leaving no tip at all.

As per marks comments, which i will post here: (read my reply at the bottom)

Matt Says:
October 12th, 2006 at 6:22 am
Per the Tipping Ettiquette page (and many other tipping recommendation pages), you should not tip your cable, satellite, internet installers.

As an Internet installer for the last 5 years I take offense to this. Why are we not tip worthy?

I routinely make the extra effort to make my installs look nice. I run wire in hot attics. I run wire in dirty crawlspaces. I try to hide wire on the outside of your house. I attempt to make a computer with 2 years worth of spyware at least usable for no extra cost. My employer doesn’t care what the install looks like. But I do. I take pride in giving someone a clean, professional install, because I am certainly not required to do so.

So, why do I get the shaft when a bartender gets praised for mixing the right liquids or a taxi driver gets you to your destination.

Think about that next time. Installers like to know that you appreciate their effort. I put in 110% for every install I do, but I am certainly not the majority.

My response: Thats the problem with this tipping thing, where does it stop? People get paid to do a job, why is required in so many things that we tip everyone and add extra cost to us, why doesnt the boss pay them more, enough to satisfy? Pretty soon everyone will be wanting a tip for doing anything for you just because they do a good job, WHICH IS WHAT YOU GET PAID TO DO ANYWAYS, and if you dont do a good job, your lazy.

I get the waiter thing because they dont get paid hardly anything, and I tip 15%, but on this other stuff, come on, its their job to do it, if they dont get paid enough go do something else. I agree with mark, why should someone who mixes liquids well get an extra tip when there are thousands of other people doing thousands of other personal services without getting tipped. When they get paid 6 or 7 bucks an hour a Micky D’s and dont get tipped, do they do any less work in preparing your food than a bartending who pours a

qucik drink that takes just a few seconds. I mean, to me the guy who works at mcd’s has a worse job and puts up with a lot of bs, a bartender has the better job of conversing and simply pouring drinks for you. why pay one extra and not the other? I make gasoline at a plant, if I make good gas, are you going to tip me? If you dont, shouldnt i just not care and have a bad attitude about it and make crappy gas so your car runs bad? No, because its my job, and thats what I get paid to do, and I shouldnt required a 20% hand out from everyone to do it. You got a bad job and dont make enough? Go to college. Dont whine to me. Go to your boss and ask him. If we tipped any and everyone who had to come to our house to do something…..I mean, my god!. Arent they already getting paid? Did I not pay their boss or owner or fee that goes towards their wages? Do I have to chip in extra above the list price just to get soemething done right? Thats whats wrong with america, we always have our hand out for more.

And matt, as for your boss not caring. maybe they dont care what it looks like, but if you keep doing bad jobs that look bad the company reputation will go down and eventualy it effect the bottom line and bring down business. If you need to get paid more to do it right, talk to him, or is it just easier to ask the homeowner for more of his money?

Do you people tip your mechanic for fixing your car right as opposed to just band-aiding it to get it rolling again? Do you tip the cooks in the back for making good food? Do you tip your bank teller for working fast to get a large line down faster to get to you quicker? No, and you shouldnt have to. They work hard like everyone else. They should have enough pride in their work to do it right anyway, and THEY WERE PAID TO DO IT. If the price wasnt right in the first place, raise the price, dont expect a tip. It will never end with this tipping thing.

Can someone explain the 15-20% restaurant tipping guideline … which I have never been able to understand? So if I go to an exquisite restaurant and pay $100-150 for a meal or I go to the family diner on the corner for $50 and tip 15% of total bill at both places … how is that fair to the waiter/waitress who is working at the more economical diner when they may have even provided better service? What I have done for years is set a tipping rate based on the number of people dining in our party, regardless of the amount of my bill, and add or subtract from that amount accordingly based on the service received. This works much better for us rather than tipping based on the total $$ amount of our bill. That just isn’t fair to any waiter/waitress who is not working in an upscale place where prices are higher and they are providing the same (or better) degree of service.

It’s easy to explain how the 15% is fair. If you go to an exquisite restaurant and pay $150 for a meal, your server might only wait on 15 other guests, while at the family diner, the server might wait on 50 people. So, it’s very possible that the person at the family diner could actually make *more* than the person at the exquisite place, although the fine dining restaurants usually do make more money.

Remember too that you’re paying for experience at the exquisite restaurant. They should be more polished, have more food and wine knowledge and have more years experience. Since servers really don’t get “raises”, the way that you make more money if you stay in the business for any length of time is to hone your skills and gain valuable experience so that you can find yourself working in a really nice upscale place. It’s a similar thing to the idea that a mid-level manager makes more money than someone just starting out in the business.

What are you doing trying to reinvent the wheel anyway? I don’t question how *you* get paid, do I? How does your system “work better for you”? Do it short servers in nice restaurants so that you can afford to eat there? That’s not fair at all.

The 15 – 20% guideline works for everyone if you apply it fairly across the spectrum. If the service is average, tip 15%. If it’s better than average, then go higher. If the service sucks or is sub-par leave less. Everything else will take care of itself. The server working more tables but with less on the line with each table will get the benefit of volume and a lesser standard to be held to, and the fine dining server will get the benefit of a high check price while being held to a higher standard and a longer table presence (usually diners stay for well over 2 hours in a high-end restaurant where diners in diners or casual restaurants might stay between 45 minutes to an hour and a half).

Hope this helps.

PS, if the server at the diner gives better service than the server in the hoity-toity restaurant, by all means, leave them a higher percentage. That’s the way it’s supposed to work.

okay heres the thing ….. places like chilis, applebees, logans…. some people tip some people dont… im not going to go in the whole spill on who tips who doesnt… we all know if you work at one. so when you are in a section at a place like that and that server has 6 tables…. he or she is prob not going to get the best tips…. because she can not properly serve her tables….. most people claim to tip on percentage… but mainly tip on service. so no they usually dont make more.

when servers work at fine dining restuarants they tend to take more cash home….. since most of them can only have about 3 to 4 tables max.

and look around at the people sitting next to you…. do you think there going to tip??? do you see your server running their butt off for a table that possibly wont even tip at all???

if you wanna know who doesnt tip ask. and im not saying EVERYONE who is like this doesnt…. BUT ….. its WELL known in the business.

First of all, I’ve worked in places like you describe and my average tip percentage was within 1% of what I’m doing now in my upscale job. And yes, I’m making more money than I did in those places, but I can’t blame it on any particular average tip percentage.

Second, of the thousands of tables that I’ve waited on over 10 years, I’ve only been stiffed (0 tip) three or four times, even when running 5 tables at a churn and burn type of place. Even people of modest means appreciate and pay for good service.

Yes, my current high-end job isn’t as frenetic. But I have a lot more on the line at each table. If I get 10% instead of 15% at a table where businessmen are conducting big business and the check is $600, that’s a $30 hit (and that might be most of my night right there), whereas, if I screw up on a table that’s spending $80 and lose the same percentage, I’m only going to lose $4.00. And the standards at the high end place are far more exacting and require a lot more experience (not taking away from the skills you need to manage a section in a churn and burn sort of place). I’ve earned the right to make more money because of the time I’ve put in and the knowledge that I’ve gained and the hours of reading and studying on my off time to increase my food and wine knowledge.

And let’s not forget the nights where we only have 12 covers on the books. There are nights where some of us have to go home early without making a cent. That rarely happens in a restaurant where you’re working 4-6 tables. In my current restaurant, most of us only have 3 tables, and believe me, it can be tough managing *those* tables due to the demanding nature of the high-end restaurant – decanting wine and the wine knowledge that you’re expected to have, elaborate scripting, guests who feel like you should be their own personal server to exclusion of everyone else, etc.)

I’m just sayin’ – if someone who works at Outback wants to put in the time and effort, they too can grab a more exclusive job. But most servers at Outback and the like do quite well for themselves, thank you very much. Many of them would hate having to wait around until 7pm for your first table as I often have to do, or not particularly care for all of the extra-curricular study that a fine dining server has to deal with to be an effective server.

In Europe and in many other countries tips are not expected (but rounding up is appreciated). I think we should all change the tipping culture in the US. The server’s (including delivery persons, barbers, etc.) income should be fully included in the price you pay for your food and/or service. Tipping is a pain.

I don’t know if you’ve been to Europe or not, but having lived there for 7 years, I can tell you that the system there is quite a bit different. A whiny little thing like you would *hate* it if we adopted a European system. Most restaurants over there only have a handful of servers. Guess why. And guess what would happen if we started paying servers a wage comparable to what we’re making now. You might not even get greeted for 10 minutes becuase there wouldn’t be enough servers to take care of everyone.

Of course, maybe you could get used to the leisurely dining that Europeans have come to expect. So say goodbye to getting a table even after a 2 hour wait.

Many places add an automatic, 15% gratuity on to the bill. That seems like a pretty good alternative. It wouldn’t really matter if the had the automatic gratuity, or they just raised their prices. Either way you would be paying the same. One thing I would consider, is that most servers (knowing all they were going to make was 15%) would then concentrate on the amount of tables they could squeeze in on their shift, rather than the quality of service they provide.
I wouldn’t really worry about trying to change the U.S. tipping culture anyway. I think there are more important things in the U.S. and the world to try and change or make a difference at. Don’t you girlfriend?

Been in the industry for about 12 years
decent = 15%
good = 20%
outstanding = 25%
anything less is cheap

somewhere in here someone said that they dont want to tip someone a dollar for opening their beer… that they’d rather open it themselves and keep the buck. THEN SIT AT HOME! you didn’t just pay for me to grab you that beer. most server and bartenders make a habit of spending a decent amount of time to look good each and every day we work, we greet you with a smile and make small talk while you drink your beer, we laugh and your rarely funny jokes, and give you a warm and friendly place to pass some time, and for some of you we are your only friends and family. You are NOT the above things to us, you are means to live, our bread and butter. If you dont tip then I will take away everything but the bare basics, and dont expect me to entertain you. Also, bad service deserves 0 percent tip. There are too many people in this industry that expect to be tipped regardless of anything. They act as if this a hard job, and complain about every table they get. If your a bitch or an asshole, I wont tip and I will let your manager know. Mistakes happen, everyone knows that, its how the server deals with those situations. I have been serving or bartending for over 10 years. I also just completed an engineering degree and am only doing 1 night a week right now (full time days engineering). Let me tell you… anyone that thinks serving is harder than it looks, or that bartending can be tough job when busy or learning so many new drinks… your funny. it’s easy!!! the brain SHOULD be capable of alot. in comparison to other jobs its the easiest (unless you work at the mall). stop complaining… on a good night you might make $200 with wages.. no feels bad for you… in canada (where I live) everyone get minimum which is pretty muich really close to $10.. there were months that I made more serving than I make now as an engineer (but will make way more in a few years) and for all you die hard servers and bartenders, get an education, or buy yourself a pub.. NO ONE WANTS A 50 YEAR OLD SERVER.. no matter what you think.. NO ONE

For those of you who feel that it is between the employer and the employees to determine wages in restaurants, think about this:
Because employers can pay servers and bartenders (and sometimes bussers) less than minimum wage on the presumption that tips will compensate the employee, you (the guest) are able to pay a fair price for your meal. Remove tipping standards and pay all employees minimum wage or above. Your $10 burger with fries and coleslaw, coca-cola, and dessert now becomes a $20 order. Saving money on employees allows restaurants more money to spend on food. This is true even in the most expensive restaurants.

I think all those who says tipping is not required just lacks generosity. Waiting staff gets the lowest pay around the world. If they do a reasonable job give them a basic tip, if they do a good job tip them more. It does not matter if you are in Australia, Japan, China or the US. Whether it is a Chinese, Pizza or a five star establishment. Be generous and compassionate

Just want to let you know I work for a indian casino and make federal minum wage and do get taxed on tips wether I make the certan amount of tips or not. Yes the economy is bad but please do not tip us in pennies. If you can’t tip us at least 50 cents for a bottle of water or what no please don’t order and don’t gamble. I’m trying to make a living to. I walk over 10 miles a day to serve you. So please consider we are only makeing 7.25 a hour plus minus our tip tax which is currently on grave shift 8 an hour which we do not make at all any more. we have familys to feed too. If you are able to gamble please tip us at least 50cent for your free drink. While you spend houndreds to thousands a night on the games. The ones who ride busses un and work our butts for coffee and what not and don’t tip thats just not right, let us work and help the people who are playing at least.

As a barista, I would first like to say that yes, please please tip your barista. At my coffeeshop we *do* pay taxes on our tips. And I know not one of us can pay our bills without tips (and we all share housing and are very frugal to keep costs down…i.e. not living a lavish lifestyle).

I think those who say that they don’t agree with tipping (at least those who live in the U.S.) have likely never done a service job. I have had several other jobs and service is by far the hardest. I think it’s probably so undervalued because the skill set needed is hard to quantify: yes, it may look like we’re performing simple tasks that any monkey could do, but it is incredibly difficult to deal with 400 people in a six hour period, many of whom refuse to acknowledge your basic humanity while simultaneously being ridiculously demanding and rude…and you’re lucky enough to do this job all day and walk home with $6.50/hour. It is definitely a skilled job–those of you who haven’t done it could not walk in and learn how to do it right away, and it takes most people quite a bit of experience and training to actually get good at it. The fact that so many people think that serving is easy shows that most service workers take a lot of pride in their work and put in the effort to hide their fatigue/stress/frustration/whatever else is going on in their life to make sure *you* are happy and taken care of. I’m not saying servers deserve to pull huge paychecks, but the fact is that it is incredibly undervalued work that many people rely on every day yet don’t take the time to reflect on it or appreciate it. I’m there with a smile to make your morning better; you can leave me fifty cents (and if you’re buying for the office and have a $15 bill, leave an appropriate tip. I think also many people who say “I won’t pay somebody for filling up my coffee cup” don’t think about who stocks the cups? who make the coffee? who mops the floors at night? who handled the transaction? We’re still performing a service for you, we’re still spending time to take care of you.

Yes, it would be great if servers were paid decently for their work and tipping was deemed unnecessary. But in the meanwhile, it’s not customers’ place to make their stance known on tipping by not tipping at all. Talk to the manager. He/she will likely turn around and start laughing hysterically, but it’s a start. Also consider whether or not you would be willing to have the cost of your meal/coffee drink increased in order to actually pay the employees fairly. And maybe even get them some kind of health insurance? It’s not a perfect system, but refusing to tip or being cheap about tipping is absolutely not the way to fix it.

To all those in the service industry who complain about low or non-existent tips: Did you not choose that industry to work in? Why are you complaining about not getting tips? I work 8-5+ everyday and no one tips me on the way out for doing my job.

When you accept a job, ie: Barista (aka person who pours coffee) you know the hourly wage. I shouldn’t have to tip everytime someone does what they were hired to do. Should I tip the salesperson at Barnes and Nobles for ringing up my book? Perhaps I should give the hot dog guy on the corner an extra dollar for putting the ketchup on the hot dog?

The tipping and guilt jars has gotten out of hand and people growing up in this generation have begun to “expect it”.

Well, now that the economy has (And will continue) go to sh#$, good luck relying on the tips of the few wealthy people who were guilted into putting money in those jars.

As for waitresses and waiters, 15% for GOOD SERVICE. 20% FOR EXCEPTIONAL. I Am tired of people raising this bar over and over again. People are so afraid of “looking cheap” that they tip 20% as standard. 10 years from now someone is going to start saying 20% is standard and 25% for good service, until no one can afford to even go out to eat anymore because of the ridiculous expectations. THERE IS A REASON IS IS A PERCENTAGE…b/c as food prices increase, so does the tip amount. Adjusting a Percentage to be higher defeats the point of it being one in the first place.

Having said all that, if someone does GO OUT OF their way to help you, tipping is appropriate. I recently gave two sales people at a major chain retail store tips for their extraordinary service and assistance. This is completely out of the ordinary, but so was the assistance and help they provided me.

“To all those in the service industry who complain about low or non-existent tips: Did you not choose that industry to work in? Why are you complaining about not getting tips? I work 8-5+ everyday and no one tips me on the way out for doing my job”.

Oh god, not THIS again. First of all, those of us who work in restaurants, we accepted the job as an hourly plus tips jobs (my hourly being 2.13/hr – 99.999% of people tip me on top of that, so I do quite well – the market has spoken!). This has been customary for longer than you’ve been alive. Don’t like it? Feel free not to dine in places where you get personal table service. Also, You work 8 – 5 for an hourly wage or salary that’s fully covered. You’ve accepted that, right? You’ve given up tips as part of YOUR compensation.

That’s a slightly different situation than being a waiter or waitress due to the higher hourly wage and the queue-type service that they provide. Tips are a bit more optional right now, because it’s a new phenomenon. Perhaps 30 years from now, tips will be part of the “wage package” because it’s become part of the culture. right now, it’s still an optional thing, something that’s nice to do. If you don’t like being nice, oh well, that’s cool. Don’t drop anything into the tip jar.

“I shouldn’t have to tip everytime someone does what they were hired to do. Should I tip the salesperson at Barnes and Nobles for ringing up my book”?

No, because tips aren’t an accepted part of their job. but you knew that, didn’t you?

“Perhaps I should give the hot dog guy on the corner an extra dollar for putting the ketchup on the hot dog”?

Since he’s the owner of his business, and he gets all of the profit from your hot dog, no you don’t. But you knew that before you typed that stupid analogy, didn’t you?

“The tipping and guilt jars has gotten out of hand and people growing up in this generation have begun to “expect it”.”

Tip jars are something a bit different than tipping in restaurants. Still, if you don’t want to do it, are you so weak that you can be made to feel guilty? with the tone that you have displayed here, I really tend to doubt it. So what’s yer beef? Just ignore the tip jar if it gets you so riled up.

“Well, now that the economy has (And will continue) go to sh#$, good luck relying on the tips of the few wealthy people who were guilted into putting money in those jars”.

Good luck on keeping your OWN job. You’re going to need it with all of the layoffs and stuff.

“As for waitresses and waiters, 15% for GOOD SERVICE. 20% FOR EXCEPTIONAL. I Am tired of people raising this bar over and over again”.

That has been the standard since the 50s. Actually 15% is for your basic good service, not for service “better than average”. Most people will go 17 – 18% for that and go 20% for great service.

“People are so afraid of “looking cheap” that they tip 20% as standard”.

So YOU say. I see a different mindset from the thousands of tables that I’ve waited on. Most seem quite content to tip whatever they tip. Could what you say be a motive for some? Maybe. But for many, tipping is also a way to feel generous, especially when they ARE generous.

“10 years from now someone is going to start saying 20% is standard and 25% for good service, until no one can afford to even go out to eat anymore because of the ridiculous expectations”.

With the exception of people in NYC, where the “standard” HAS risen somewhat because of the cost of living there, and a few servers who proclaim that this is true (which doesn’t make it true for most of the country), the standard is exactly the same as when my dad taught me how to tip in the early 60s. So, just as servers saying that the standard is now 20% doesn’t make it true, you speculating about the future doesn’t make it true, especially when it’s based on faulty information.

I can see how some servers say that 20% is the new standard, because that’s what good servers usually see. But it’s because of their expereience and “great service”. Servers shouldn’t confuse this with a new ‘standard” (although, as I noted, NYC servers might have a case, considering how high the cost of living is there, especially on Manhattan).

“THERE IS A REASON IS IS A PERCENTAGE…b/c as food prices increase, so does the tip amount. Adjusting a Percentage to be higher defeats the point of it being one in the first place”.

The standard remains the same as it has for 50 years – 15% for “average service” and less for less than average service and more for better service.

“Having said all that, if someone does GO OUT OF their way to help you, tipping is appropriate”.

tipping is always appropriate when dealing with a “tipped occupation”.

“I recently gave two sales people at a major chain retail store tips for their extraordinary service and assistance. This is completely out of the ordinary, but so was the assistance and help they provided me”.

And that of course is your choice. Should someone slam you for being guilted into it, or claiming that it was wrong because, “They knew what they were getting into when they took a $12/hr job at Best Buy”?

Wow! Most of the people on this page have eaten and drank a ton of spit! I am a bartender by trade and have been at the same hotel for 18 years. I personally tip waiters 25% or $5 which ever is less. I always tip the barrista at least $3. I tip a delivery driver $5 per person that i ordered for. I take a cab twice a month when my wife and i go out drinking and my general rule is $10 tip plus $5 a stop if i have to stop anywhere on the way home. I tip 10 to the valet or doorman of anyplace, and if you pick up one of my bags you are getting an automatic $20 if you have to get the luggage cart its $50. Hotel maids get $10 a night and it helps if you write a note on the bedside table, many dont speak much english so just put “for maid” they know what this means. And finally when it comes to tipping your bartender you would be wise to do such. For a good tipper i will give you free food, “forget” to write down some or maybe most of your drinks. I will listen to you sob when you loose your job and even help you move if your a good regular customer. But if you dont tip ONCE i will be very slow with making you a drink when you come back and put very little liquor in it. When you dont tip TWICE i will advise you that i am sorry but i do not feel comfortable serving you anything else. If you have a tab or are a hotel guest I will then push my button on the cash register that automatically comps your tab for 18% so that i get a tip. If you refuse to pay this then i point to my very small sign above the cash register that says “all customers are carged 18% gratuity” If you refuse to pay your bill i call security which will detain you till the police arive and the DA will file charges on you for Theft of Services Involving a Controlled Beverage, a state jail felony.

Im a delivery driver. On an average night, each driver will take about 10 deliveries.That is 10 deliveries on a 5 hour shift, if you are lucky!Now consider this, $2/delivery means that the driver would only make $20 in tips that night, using about $10 dollars in gas (at their own expense)meaning they pocket only $10 at the end of the night. Could you survive off of that? I usually appreciate $4-$5, and for those who dont tip the driver— go pick it up. We shouldnt be using our gas to deliver your food for free.

i noticed alot of people who comment on here are servers and waitresses (or used to be) because so many are complaining about getting small tips. i totally think that we should tip servers but if ur rude or give me bad service youll get a crappy tip. i pay waiters 15% tip and just bacause i dont pay 20% or more it doesnt make me cheap! why should i pay more money for my meal? i could by more food with a 20% tip. and all the waiters who comment on here r the only ones telling us we should pay them more! why? im sorry ur wage is very little but that aint my fault! im not gonna pay more money cuz im supposed to feel sorry 4 u! Mcdonalds cashiers do work and we dont have to tip them. calling me cheap cuz i pay 15%?!! i wuz taught that u usually pay 15% so i dunno what some people r talking about! i think 15% is VERY REASONABLE. if u arent happy with wat people pay u then perhaps u should look for another job!

What I don’t understand are all these people who say we should tip (15-20%) even if the server did a terrible job. If tipping is based on SERVICE, and 15 is for adequate, and 20 is for good, then why in the WORLD would we reward poor service? I don’t care what the server’s excuses are, if I do terribly at my job, I don’t still expect a bonus for doing a good job come the holiday season. So why should we give servers a TIP – based on GOOD/EXCELLENT SERVICE – when the SERVICE was ATROCIOUS? What motivation does any server have to be a good server if we all tipped 15-20 regardless of the level of service?

I am someone who’s always included a tip with the cost of eating out, and have ALWAYS left 20% or better (I round up to the nearest half dollar). Unfortunately, probably in part due to my demographics (young, single, black, female) – I’ve had so many horrible restaurant experiences eating out that I seriously considered not eating out at all. But when people say that I should reward this horrible service anyway – I get a little confused. If the person really cared that much that they only made $2 and had to split the tips and got taxed etc. etc. then that would have been reflected in the service. I should not be expected to reward horrible service just because of the unfortunate financial situations of servers. I’m in the “talk to the manager AND leave 10% (or none, depending on how bad it was)” camp, but I’m definitely not going to give poor service the same amount I would give good/excellent service and don’t really understand why anyone would.

this is to the GUEST. If you come in a restuarant on a busy friday night and your sever has a full section if you dont know what a section is.. look to your left right front of you and behind you… are those tables full? also if a table gets set right next to you right when you sit down and your server has that table? and you leave a shitty tip….. because your server could not bend over backwards thats wrong. Try looking around yo and seeing how busy your server is.

if its a SLOW tuesday night and your server has 2 or 3 tables….. and pays you no attention then hell then leave an OKAY tip.

basically the less people they have then the more attention you should get.

I should note that I don’t believe in using the tip jar at coffee shops, quick-serve restaurants, etc. These types of places appear to be new to the world of tipping, and I’m not ready to go along with that.

Please tip less for bad service. It will reinforce better behavior. Conversely, don’t feel guilty about tipping servers when they do a good job. I used to be a server and we had to tip out a mandatory 8% on bar sales regardless of what the customer tipped. Bus boys also expect $1 tip if they bus the table. This sometimes meant a net loss for some tables. Servers in PA only make a fixed $2.83/hr with no raises. If you never done the job before, believe me, it’s hard. Some nights, servers will only have 1 or 2 tables on a 5 hour shift, so cash flow is inconsistent. So please, don’t feel guilty about tipping adequately.

The tipping methodology exists in order to give customers the power to reinforce good behavior. In case you haven’t connected the dots, power in the customer’s hands is a good thing!

I’d like to reiterate, do NOT give a full tip for bad service. It is common for waiters to share information on their earnings with their coworkers, so if good servers find out that bad servers make just as much as they do, the good servers will eventually decrease the quality of their service.

Please tip your Barista (except for pouring a cup of Joe or if you buy a bottle of water, etc); generally only 50 cents to $1. It is factored into our wages. Not only does it take skill to pull the perfect espresso shot and make the thickest foam for macchiatos and lattes, but almost every Barista WILL screw up the drink of a regular who doesn’t tip. And sometimes non-regulars.

Tipping hasn’t always been so mandatory! It happened when employers realized they could get away with paying their employees very little or nothing and letting the patrons foot the bill. Tipping is and always will be a courtesy in my book, depending on whether or not i’m pleased with the service.

@Tiffany – Tipping has been about the same as long as I can remember. And that goes back to the early 60s. That’s when I was taught how to tip by my father.

Tipping is not “a courtesy”. It’s payment for services rendered. If you feel like cheating your neighbor who happens to be a server out of his or her wages simply because you can, then you are a pretty miserable person in my book.

@Tiffany- Ok if you feel that way about tipping then I would tell you not to go out and order anything. Stay home make your own coffee, do your own nails, dont get a mssage ect….
I’m a cocktail server at a Indain casino and well sadley we only give coffee, soda and juice for free, and only about 30% people tip. Thats way wrong. I do, do it for tips but all so I like the nice people I meet. I have this one sweet old man come in every day plays the same slot. He orders his coffee and gives me 25 cents. I don’t get upset because he’s sweet and tells me storys.
I have done a office job where it was 9 to 5. Did the payroll and billed out over a million a month, got paid well and great benifits but you know what no person to person inneraction. It got boring.
I work a hell lot harder now and paid a lot less but I like it. Just hate the people who don’t tip and are demanding saying give me or oh all my money is in the slots, I lost so much. Your called cheap and jerks! How can a person feel ok not tipping their service person I don’t understand. Some people live off their tips others for living and school.

Tipping is a bribe and the best tip is to print out advice cards. ” your country is a democracy where you can organize,or join a union where you can demand adequate . ” do this and get prperly paid for your work” and get off the “Master-Slave” relationship. This advice if followed will be a much pleasenter workplac.Lea ve this card as a tip.Be prepared to be insulted a few times reply that you will join their protest parades.

Mr. van Berg, perhaps you should stick to commenting about customs in your own country. First of all, we’re a “Republic”, not a “Democracy”. Second of all, how can tipping be a “bribe” if it’s done *after the fact*? Third, when these little phrases are on your menus – Pourboire inclus, Fooi inbegrepen, inklusive Bedienung und Mehrwertsteuer – do you leave an “advice card” to your server and demand that the *mandatory* service charge is removed? You do know that the service charge isn’t passed directly over to the server, right?

Frankly, I get paid “properly” for my work because most people in the US comply with the local customs. Yes, it’s different than most of the world. But I’m sure that your country has some “different customs”, whether it be having to pay a mandatory service charge regardless of how bad the service is, or having taxes included in the menu price, or not giving white chrysanthemums to someone, or the fact that it’s considered rude to ask a really personal question to someone. Should I take your country to task for having weird ideas about flowers? I think not. I shouldn’t call your country something out of the superstitious Dark Ages simply because you think that white mums signify death.

When you come to our country, perhaps it would be easier for you to figure out what you give your own servers through the mandatory service charges and tips and follow through here. It’s not that difficult to add to the bill whatever percentage you normally pay, whether it’s 16% included in the price or 6% included in the price plus 10% after the fact.

I assume that you’re not writing from South Africa since most restaurants don’t actually add a service charge and tipping is similar to the US.

Thank you for your consideration should you visit our country. I hope you realize the errors of your posts.

ok now let tell to you i dont think my last blog went thoug tip housekeeper at the end of trip leave it at the front desk ina enverlope for ht girl who had te room all week if they cahnge girls everyday devide it up . but at the hi=otel in the villages they have one girl do the same room about 5 days out of the week just ask please thanks .

let me clear that up please i mean just ask front desk who has the room all week and if they change girls all the time tip every day if not at the end of trip and and leave in enverlope and give to front desk ,now
#342 please stop complaining about tipping watriess or waiters if you can’t tip a waitress you have know bunissees eating out it should not come inthe price of the meal and i thinkit should be added onthe end of the bill cause some watress get stiffed all the time and that sucks and yes wait staff get 3.12 and hour and housekeepers get 7.25 buttips are nice and it shows you care and if more people care we havea better place to live in thnks

I thought tipping was for EXTRAORDINARY service. Why are we almost required to tip for people doing their jobs, sometimes in a mediocre manner? I realize wait staff do not get minimum wage which is ridiculous. Even if it will raise the cost of dining out, it is a far more equitable thing for all staff to at least earn a basic minimum wage for all the “crap” they have to put up with. And when I tip I expect it to go to the person I am tipping, not the entire staff. Pay them what they should be making – at least minimum wage, not the $2.00 an hour which is not enough to keep anyone alive much raise a family on. I tip waitresses and my hair dresser because she makes time for me on short notice and I can count on her to do so. That is above and beyond what most people would do and she deserves it.

do u guys realize that servers only make $2.13 an hour?????
whatever you give us is what we pay our bills with…
just keep that in mind.
18% is the minimum.
that is 15% to us.
we have to tip the busser 1%
we have to tip the bartender 1%
and the hostess/quality assurance 1%.

My gosh! If I tipped everyone like you guys suggest, I wouldn’t have any money to buy their services in the first place. Perhaps, since I am a receptionist, I should be tipped for doing my job too. Maybe $1.00 per phone call or $3.00 for greeting people when they come through my door. And, I’m sorry, you don’t tip a cable guy or your mail man! They get paid to do their job just like me. I was always told that waitresses & hairdressers are tipped because they don’t make as much money.

Ok 15% wAs what the standard tip was when I was in college which was quite awhile ago. Most people in the service industry live on tips not on their wage… As there are states such as MA that pay 2.63 per hour.. And there is this thing called inflation and the service industry is affected by it.. The standar now is 18%. For the person who pays 300 $ and is out of a resturant in less than an hour, I have to say that is good work. Any meal that much will require more time in the place than an hour.. And you are not realizing all the people that server has to tip out as well. Esp in nice place.. They tip bartenders for making drinks, bussers etc.. And sometimes even the kitchen.. So if you can afford the 300$ meal you can afford the 20% tip..

I completely agree with you when it comes to food service; however many waiters still get under tipped these days unfortunately even with a simple insightful blog such as yours. Tipping good just needs to become practiced better because its how many people make a living.

“Tipped employees” are a class of employee for which the standard federal minimum wage does not apply. Instead, employers must pay a tipped employee at least $2.13 / hour. HOWEVER, the law also states that if an employee’s wage plus that employee’s tips do not equal at least the standard minimum wage (currently $7.25 nationally, higher in some states), the employer MUST make up the difference. This is non-negotiable, FEDERAL LAW that the employer cannot ignore.

So, regardless of whether someone tips 15% or nothing at all, the employer is REQUIRED by FEDERAL LAW to ENSURE that the employee earns AT LEAST the standard minimum wage.

A lot of tipped employees are either not told this, or feign ignorance when trying to whine about how their wages are dependent on their tips, which simply is not true. They are GUARANTEED the standard minimum wage ($7.25 per hour) under FEDERAL LAW.

So “tipped employees” are guaranteed the standard minimum wage per hour even if they don’t get a single tip during their entire shift. So as a “tipped employees”, if you want to earn more than $7.25 per hour, stop whining and get a better-paying job, otherwise be thankful for the minimum-wage earnings you make as someone with no other marketable skills or higher education.

If you are employed by a restaurant as a server, and let’s say you are on the schedule to work from 2pm to 10pm on a Saturday, you will be there for the full 8 hour shift regardless of whether the place is packed with customers or not, and your employer is still required under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (United States) to ensure you are paid at least the standard minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in the event you do not make enough tips to bring you to that level from the minimum required cash wage of $2.13 that the owner normally pays as salary.

So if the customers do tip generously and your hourly wage (including the minimum required cash wage of $2.13) is over the standard minimum wage of $7.25, then your employer (in most cases) will only pay you as salary the minimum required cash wage of $2.13, and the rest of your wages are comprised of tips.

Tipping in America is basically nothing more than a scam perpetuated by business owners to place the burden of their employee salaries on the paying public. If I go into a restaurant, and I pay for a meal, the “service” is assumed to be included in the cost of the meal. I should not be expected to pay “extra” for the “privilege” of someone doing their job, being courteous, and not tampering with my food. That is what is expected of you as an employee in your position, and is not something the customer needs to pay “extra” to receive as part of their dining experience.

If I don’t tip, you will still be guaranteed a wage of $7.25 per hour, which I believe is acceptable for not only the actual “work” a server does, but also the amount of time spent actually doing anything related to me or my meal.

The total amount of time spent by a server dealing with me, my meal or my table very rarely ever surpasses 5 minutes total. I feel it is ridiculous to tip someone 15% (in some places 20% is expected) of my meal cost for spending a total of 5 minutes throughout my entire meal to simply:

1. Inform me of the specials or whatever they are trying to push (Required by the restaurant, as I don’t want to hear it)
2. Take my order
3. Bring drinks
4. Bring the order to my table
5. Ensure drinks stay filled (which in many places doesn’t happen)
6. Spend 10 seconds every 15 – 20 minutes to ask if the table needs anything
7. Bring the bill
8. Clear the table for the next diners

The issue is that servers, like everyone else I suppose, wish to earn far beyond the standard minimum wage of $7.25, but do not perform any function or work to actually justify that. The other issue is that an ever-growing number of restaurant owners in America charge rather high prices for their meals, and then through sheer greed pocket all the profits, and attempt to pass on the burden of the employee salaries onto the public.

There is not a huge difference in price between the cost of a decent meal in a decent restaurant in America, and one in Europe. Yet in many parts of Europe, tipping is discouraged if not openly frowned upon, because the restaurants pay their servers a full wage commensurate to the position, and the cost of that employee salary is built into the meal cost. The difference is that in America, the restaurant owner simply keeps it all for restaurant expenses and profit. That in turn becomes a burden on the servers to receive enough in tips to allow them to live well. The funny thing is, that in Europe you will often find that the full cost of a meal (without paying a tip…and the server is paid a full wage by the restaurant) is still less than the full cost of a meal in America with an added %15 tip, which simply further illustrates the point that the American system of tipping simply perpetuates greed on the part of the restaurant owners.

Then of course, you hear the argument from servers that “If you can’t afford to tip, you shouldn’t dine out”, because they are not satisfied receiving $7.25 for unskilled labor that does not require higher education, and are attempting to entice the consumer into feeling some type of moral indignation that might prompt them to tip generously.

When I dine out, I pay for the meal (with the service included in the cost of the meal), and am not legally obligated to supplement the salary of the server simply because the restaurant owner chooses not to do it. The functions the server performs in no way justifies a voluntary 15% increase in the amount I pay.

In America you see this same type of setup in many salons as well, where you pay anywhere from $15 – $30 for a haircut, and then are expected to tip the barber / stylist $5 – $20 on top of that, because like servers, their employer does not pay them a full wage, and treats them as “tipped employees”. If I pay $15 for a haircut, the expectation is that it would be done well and look the same regardless of whether I tip or not, because I am paying for the service of receiving a haircut in a professional manner in a style that I describe, just as at a restaurant I am paying for the meal and it is expected to be
delivered to the table in a timely and courteous manner without being tampered with, without me paying anything beyond the actual cost of the items I consume to receive that service.

Bottom line, if “tipped employees” aren’t happy receiving $7.25 an hour, which they WILL receive as it is guaranteed under United States Federal Law, they should seek employment elsewhere without whining about the tips they receive, as they are not
legally entitled to them, and the customer is not legally obligated to provide them. The problem “tipped employees” have is with their employer, and not the customer, if you really think about it.

I realize this was a little long, but I felt it was necessary to fully explain so people understand that “tipped employees” in America WILL receive $7.25 per hour even if they don’t receive tips, and that people also understand the justification for not ever tipping a server or any other type of “tipped employee” in America. The burden of paying an employee salary is on the business owner that employs them, not the public.

The meal prices in different countries are comparable, yet in America there is somehow a sense of entitlement on the part of waitstaff that are underpaid by their employers that are still collecting fees that could compensate waitstaff without the use of a tip system.

There is no need to pretend that tipping a server is not my responsibility, because it absolutely isn’t. It’s not about “taking something for free”, or not being altruistic. If it was my legal responsibility to financially compensate a server 15% of my bill for 5 minutes of work, then it would be included in my bill and it would not be optional, it would be mandatory under law. You don’t work for me. You work for a greedy restaurant owner…your salary issues lie with them, not the public consumer.

The cost of my meal absolutely includes you taking my order on behalf of your employer, because if you didn’t, there would be no sale. The cost of my meal also includes the responsibility of the restaurant to deliver the goods I purchased to me.

Performing those services that are required on behalf of your employer in no way entitles you to compensation by me for performing them.

If you are not satisfied with an unskilled minimum wage job, then endeavor to get a higher education, or some marketable skills,
that will allow you to earn a wage commensurate to your skillset or education. Being deserving of anything has nothing to do
with it. Just because you cannot survive off minimum wage does not mean that the public consumer is in any way responsible to
supplement the income that your employer is too greedy to pay you to ensure you can make $15 – $50 an hour (and yes, I have met waitstaff that make $50+ an hour totaling several thousand dollars per month).

At a decent American restaurant, a typical dinner for two is in the neighborhood of $50…at a more upscale establishment, the
bill is typically $100+.

A server spending 5 minutes with me throughout the meal to take my order and deliver the food will never justify $7.50 on a $50 tab, and certainly not $15 on a $100 tab for literally 5 minutes of their time.

The issue is not about being cheap, or trying to get something for free (which we are not). The issue is that I refuse to directly pay a full hourly salary for someone that only serves me for 5 minutes. Doing so is simply akin to me giving money to someone that neither earned it, or frankly deserves it based on the service performed directly for me.

At the rate of the standard US federal minimum hourly wage, which is $7.25, you are entitled to earn 12.0833 cents per minute
(60 minutes x 12.0833 cents = $7.25). If you spend 5 minutes taking my order, bringing the food and refilling drinks, then you are entitled to 60.4165 cents to compensate you for your time, and not a preposterous 15% of my bill. I would be courteous and even round it up to 75 cents, or perhaps a full dollar if I have no change, but that is realistically all you “deserve” for what you do and the time it takes you to do it.

The functions a server performs are simply not worth more than the standard federal minimum wage, which was basically established to regulate the minimum wage for unskilled labor such as waitstaff.

Sorry if people that work in the service industry take offense, but if you read all of my posts and think about the issues in a logical manner, instead of reacting emotionally, you cannot dispute the law or the logic. Your salary is in no way the
responsibility of the consumer just because your employer doesn’t want to pay you.

You are willingly choosing to basically perform volunteer work at a restaurant in exchange for the privilege of receiving
charity from patrons. It’s not their responsibility to pay you for doing a job, as they do not employ you. You are employed
by the restaurant, and they should be paying you. My legal obligation for a financial exchange for goods and services is solely with the restaurant.

If you were to not work for tips, and received a salary of $7.25 per hour from the restaurant, and a customer decided to tip
YOU, they are still tipping YOU directly, and NOT the restaurant. The restaurant wouldn’t legally be entitled to any tip left. The truth of the matter is that waitstaff simply feel they are somehow entitled to earn exorbitant amounts of money for unskilled labor, and then make pretty weak arguments as to why they should, and why their earnings are the burden of the public consumer and not their actual employer.

As a purely charitable act, I will tip 12.0833 cents per minute to supplement your income that is the responsibility of your
employer. Now earn your pay.

The Fair Labor Standards Act clearly states regarding a “tip pool”: The requirement that an employee must retain all tips does not preclude a valid tip pooling or sharing arrangement among employees who customarily and regularly receive tips, such as waiters, waitresses, bellhops, counter personnel (who serve customers), bussers, and service bartenders. A valid tip pool may not include employees who do not customarily and regularly received tips, such as dishwashers, cooks, chefs, and janitors.

Read that carefully. Legally, you are not required as a server to share tips with personnel who would not “customarily and
regularly receive tips”. So if you willingly and voluntarily opt to share your tips with personnel not legally entitled to them, that is of course your choice. However, the customer is in no way obligated legally, morally or altruistically to compensate you for your decision.

I don’t agree with the American system, and I choose to never support it, as I have no legal obligation to do so. I will not willingly give my money away to people that have no legal entitlement to it under the law. And I feel no guilt about that whatsoever. If you cannot survive off minimum wage, then change your situation and circumstances. You are performing unskilled manual labor, so how can you realistically desire or expect to earn white-collar wages? Seriously, people…this is the ridiculous sense of entitlement that people in other parts of the world ridicule Americans for. Just because you choose to perform unskilled labor for whatever reason, that is regulated at minimum wage, does not mean that you are entitled to have others supplement your income, or that customers are responsible for ensuring you make above anything that you are
legally entitled to. Whatever wage you want to earn, find a job that pays it in salary and EARN IT, and do not expect or rely on the charity of customers to compensate for a greedy employer that DOES make enough money to actually pay you a fair wage of $7.25 for your unskilled labor, but chooses to pay you slave wages. If you can’t find a job that will pay you $30 – $50 an hour in salary for unskilled labor, then might I suggest you learn and develop marketable skills, or get a higher education?

You should not be angry with customers that do not tip…you should be angry at the restaurant owner that WILLINGLY participates in this system, since they do not have to use the tip credit system…they are simply greedy.

I personally find it appalling when people take the attitude that because they choose to work at a low-paying job, that they are somehow entitled to a salary normally earned at a higher class position of employment, and everyone other than their actual employer is obligated to pay it. Simply appalling. You are paid and entitled to a salary that your work warrants, not what you unrealistically prefer to earn.

Oh, so there’s no problem with the system, so long as we simply go along with giving you our money for no valid reason, eh?

I’m not complaining about the commodities I buy. I’m actually not complaining at all. What I am doing is informing you that any cost associated with taking my order and delivering my food to me is included in the cost of the meal, otherwise there would never be a sale to begin with. You MUST take the order, or there is no sale. You MUST deliver my food, or the restaurant has not fulfilled the terms of the contract. You’re not serving me, you’re serving the interest of your employer.

Just because someone tells you, “this is how it works here” doesn’t make it so. If I was legally responsible for a service charge, then I would pay it. Since I’m not, I never will. THAT’S how it really works, under the law…which people like you seem to like to ignore when it’s convenient for you to get other people’s money that you aren’t entitled to.

Just because someone tries to force a responsibility on me that I don’t voluntarily agree to, doesn’t make me responsible.

You don’t work for me, so I will never pay you. My legal contract for payment of services and goods is directly with the
restaurant, and not a volunteer laborer, which is basically what you are under the tip credit system.

All of my posts have legally and logically demonstrated why your salary is not my, or any other consumers responsibility. You
are guaranteed minimum wage under federal law…you will never get free money from me simply because you aren’t satisfied earning minimum wage in a job you willingly choose to do.

US Federal Law is my validity. I do not have to tip because I am not legally required to do so. Your livelihood is not my responsibility.

At a restaurant, the same level of service is to be expected from a server whether they are tipped or not, as you are an employee of the restaurant and you represent them. I guarantee that any business owner would agree, and would likely fire YOU for stating otherwise. The expectation of a tip will not determine the level or quality of service that a customer receives…dispute that with a business owner and see if you’re working there tomorrow.

Your “service” of taking my order and delivering my food is MANDATORY for the sale of your employer’s goods, and does not
entitle you to extra compensation from me, which is why I am not legally obligated under the law to do so. THIS is indisputable fact, not opinion.

In any restaurant, I can inform you before I even order that I won’t be tipping you, and you WILL still serve me in order to sell the goods of the restaurant. THAT is fact, not opinion. You will complete the sale of goods for your employer or you will be fired.

Seven out of 50 states currently ban a tip credit, and more will likely follow in the future, because both the public and lawmakers realize it is nothing more than a scam perpetuated at the expense of a gullible public.

I’m not tipping you for doing your job, or to compensate you for willingly working a low wage job.

Giving you hand-outs and charity is barely a step above you being on welfare with my taxes supporting you anyway. The only difference with tips is that we are cutting out the welfare office as the middle-man.

Sir/Madam! Yes it is our job to take your order, and bring you your food. You are correct!
But if you think for one minute that you could come tell me, before you order, that you will not be tipping me and I will give you the exact same service you are sadly mistaken and delusional.
Skill is in the eye of the beholder. I guess you have to go to university to be skilled? I’m not sure what you consider skilled, but if you think that any Joe or Sally off the street can be a good server, again you are delusional and you clearly have your head up your a##!
There is a reason that serving is rated among the top ten stress-full areas of work in North America. It’s because it is a very hard trade and people like you look down upon us because we are trying to make an honest living.
We Sir/Madam, have to entertain you while your food is taking long because of circumstances beyond our control. We entertain your children and make sure they have food fast so that you can enjoy yours when it comes. We go to the kitchen and find out what is taking your food so long, and then we have to come and explain it to you and listen to you act like it’s our fault. We have to deal with people who think that they are so much better than us because they graduated from university. We help give you a pleasant experience while you are dining. Perhaps you would like to go to your favorite dining place and go up to the counter, order your food from some sixteen year old, take your food back to your table, get your own refills, and get up off your chair and go back to the counter when there is a problem. Maybe that would be better for you?
Believe me when I tell you that good service is NOT mandatory and if you think you would be able to go to my Manager and have me fired, again your sadly mistaken. The manager will tell you sorry, and say the things you want to hear. Then do you know what happens. He/She will come back to me and tell me that you are just another one of those idiots who thinks he/she is better than everyone else and deserves a server to wait hand and foot. We Sir/Madam are people too. We are not welfare cases. We are not lazy! We work our butts off! We have to be highly organized. You don’t just come off the street and start making good money. You have to earn it. How do you do that? You learn! You develop skills! You work hard! I did all these things! Starting as a dishwasher and working my way up over 20+ years to become a bartender who makes decent money. Believe me I don’t make the money that I do because I’m lazy! You might ask why I’m not a manager after twenty years. Well I’ll be honest with you. I make more money than them. It’s not because I am expecting charity from you! It’s because I work hard to ensure my guests have a good experience. I am working for them and 98% of them realize in and pay for it. Of course there are always the 2% who make up every excuse in the book not to leave a tip. You went further than most…I applause you!

It’s ok though. We servers know/expect that people like you come in once and a while. We know that you are so much smarter than us. You have it all figured out. Hell, you should be president! I’m sure you’d do a better job at it. You’d really get the U.S. back on it’s feet.

Charity?..HAHAHA! A step above welfare?….HAHAHA! Unskilled? HAHA!

I don’t expect you to understand so because you can’t teach or show something to someone you knows everything. So I will cut it short.

The only thing I would say is to go and try it yourself and find out how unskilled it is. Oh but you are probably too good for that. You are better than others so I don’t expect you to do that.
You should really examine your self and realize that you are not better that anyone else. You don’t know their stories. You don’t know what has brought people to the points in life that they are at. Lastly, judging by your ignorant words, have never worked in, and know nothing about working in the service industry. Oh, but I know you think you do and you will disagree.
This blog (which I really like by the way) is filled with people who are scraping their pennies trying to get ready for retirement and so of course there are a lot of people with all kinds of excuses to be cheap. Instead of waiting for retirement to have a good time, you should try it now! Life is short brother! You’ve got to realize that you are no better than anyone else. EVEN THE PEOPLE On WELFARE! We are all people trying our best to get by. If you try and be nice to people, I’m willing to bet that you’ll find out that it will be returned. In fact you might actually fell good about it and better about yourself. You might realize that people are mostly good! We are all people man! I hope you realize it someday because I feel sad for you! We shouldn’t be against each other. That is what the “SYSTEM” is designed for. We go to work, we come home and sit in front of the T.V. and let the people at the “top” brain wash us so we are distracted and distanced from each other and from what’s really going on. The media is basically owned by Oil and Big Business. Everybody know that the leaders of the U.S. have more than a hand in each of those. We the people should be sticking together and getting away from the media that wants to keep us in our houses, in front of the tube, and separate from each other.

Please Don’t talk to me about “The System” I have studied 4 years of Sociology. The system is F##cked my friend!

Please get off your high horse and come back down to the rest of us! I’m sure you’ll enjoy life a lot more!

I would never claim that you are unskilled at what you do because I probably know nothing about it. Please show me and others the same courtesy. I dare you to go into ever place you eat (where their are servers) and tell them right off the bat that you will not be tipping them… see what happens. Or maybe you would be better suited to eat at McDonald’s. Maybe you could learn a thing or two about manners from the welfare cases that eat there!

Guys,
Normally its 20% for good food and indulgence but DO NOT PROP CLIENTELLE UP WITH SPECIAL OFFERS THAT ONLY ADD DOLLARS to a several $ hundred tab after they’ve been drinking and are there to entertain guests. They do not hear “I’m adding $25 to your tab so you can be special.” They were focused on guest as they should have been and not trying to get first queue on next reservation or 10% off next meal. I was really pissed at high end restaurant for bother & embarassment in front of guests to correct tab. Fortunately old waiter was still there who said management made them do it but it good waiter 5%.

Another pisser is being asked “And your name?” by hostesses at chain restaurants you regularly go to. I will volunteer it to waiter if I choose or he can get it off credit card. Don’t stalk! I did tell manager without a peep about having to go to kitchen for silverware. Thankfully, he listened.

A meal should not be an opportunity to strip diner of all personal information for your marketing dept. -I was a waiter too.

I would just like to throw in my two cents, as I am a waiter and a bartender. I wont argue the 18%, thats VERY AVERAGE. In the state of texas, I get paid $2.13/hour. Yes your reading that right.. $2.13/hour plus tips. Something one would not know unless they have worked in the industry, is about tipshare. Say you go into Chilis. Before you even meet your server, you are sat by the host. When you finish your food, your table is cleaned and sanitized by the bus boy. When you order alcohol it is made by the bartender. For every single check, your server has to tip out host, bus boy, and server. Sometimes, your server OWES money on your tab, because your 10% tip doesn’t cover my tip and then tipshare. Its not fair and most people dont know this. I mean really, if you can afford to go out to eat, get appetizers, desserts, drinks, but you try and leave your waiter 3 dollars? At the end of the night, they in turn have to tip. If you cannot afford to properly tip your waiter or waitress, that is what the dollar menu is for. Im sorry but i depend on your cheap ass to pay my bills.

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